Automatic releasing tong



Jan. 17, 1933. E. E. GREVE AUTOMATIC RELEASING TONG Filed Sept. 2. 19272 Sheets-Sheet lu/venten @H301 nu),

teredf or at the time the Patented Jan. 17, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE EDGAR E. GREVE, OF BELLEVUE, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNEASSIGN- MENTS, TO OIL WELL SUPPLY COMPANY, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA,A COB- *Y PoRATIoN or New JERSEY AUTOMATIC RELEASIN G TONG' Applicationled September This invention relates to improvements in tongs, and moreparticularly to automatic r e leasing tongs especially designed for use1n screwing together sections of pipe or tubes entering into theconstruction of the drill stem or of rotary drilling apparatus employedfor drilling oil, gas and other wells.

In rotary drilling systems of the character above mentioned, the drillstem or drill tool employed includes a number of pipe sections suitablyjoined together by threaded connections or threaded tool joints. Inmaking up the stem or in adding new sections as the drilling progresses,it is the practice to hold the inserted stem stationary by suitablemeans cooperating with a temporarily fixed part of the rotary drillingmachine, and revolve the section and its threaded connection to be addedby applying a pipe tong to the said section and rotating thetong andsection by means of a rotating part of the rotary to which the tong isalsoconnected.

In following the above stated practice 1n making up the stem or' inscrewing the threaded pipe sections together, serious troubles have beenencountered due to the continued rotation of the rotary and the tongafter the connectionis made suiiiciently tight or made up, resulting instripping the threads or in some other manner injuring other parts ofthe mechanism.

Among the objects of the present invention are, to provide a tongconstruction having means for automatically releasing the tong fromoperative engagement with the pipe when a predetermined resistance isencounjoint is properly made up; to provide a tong constructionembodying automatically operable tong releasing means including a camdevice, said means being operable tol effect an automatic release of thetong when a predetermined resistance is encountered andv while the tongis rotated in a single direction; and to provide a tong of the characterspecifiedV ofstrong and efficient construction capable of bei-ng readilyplaced in operative position on the pipe to'be threaded.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be pointedout or become lapparent froml the following description 2, 1927. SerialNo. 217,097.

taken inconnection drawings. l

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate an application of myinvention:

F ig. l is a top plan view of atong embodying my invention, showing thetong in pipe-engaging position; Y

Fig. 2, a side elevationalview of the tong and a portion of a section ofpipe; V

Eig. 3, a horizontal sectional view taken on line III-III of Fig. 2,showing the tong in released position; and

Fig. 4, a detail perspective view showing the cam constituting a part ofthe automatic releasing means. A As illustrated and as preferred, thetong embodying' the present invention includes a handle memberdesignated generally by the numeral 2, said member including a headportion 3 and two members 4. A Adapted to be pivotally secured tothehandle member, is a jaw member 5. fMember 5 is formed with spaced-apartaper'tured lugs 6, said lugs being entered between Ythe cheeks 4 andpivotally secured thereto by a pivot pin 7, the latter being passedthrough the lugs and having its ends supported inthe members 4. J awmember 5 is lformed with a relatively deeprcurved inner face 8 havingbiting means to engage a pipe section A, as shown itis provided with aplurality of teeth 9', said teeth bei-ng rectangular in cross sectionand set into recesses Vformed in the said faceSin such a manner as topresent a sharp edge for gripping lthe pipe. In addition to the elementsmentioned,`member 5 is preferably provided with a handle l0 designed toaid the operator in positioning the tong on the pipe. n

ll designates the second jaw member of the tong structure. This jaw,like jaw member 5, is pivotally secured to the handle member 2 and, asillustrated, includes a hollow body portion l2 and an outwardlyprojecting apertured portion or member 18 by means of which the jaw ispivotally secured to the handle member 2 by the same' pivot pin 7 thatconnects the jaw 5 to member 2. J awl member '11, as shown, is providedwith one with the accompanying spaced-apart or cheek or more pipegripping teeth 14, of my preferred construction.

Located within the opening or chamber 15 of the hollow body portion 12,and arranged for cooperation therein, is a fpiston-like member 16 and arelatively sti spring 18, said spring being interposed between an endwall of the member 16 and an end wall of the chamber 15. In order toprevent Wabbling of the spring within the opening, the openin ma becontracted as shown at 17.

dem er 16 is designed to cooperate with a cam device, hereinafterdescribed, and for this purpose it is provided with projecting lu 19formed with openings to receive a roser carrying pin 20, having acontacting roller 21 mounted thereon. 22 designates a hand grip formedon the jaw member 11.

Positioned in advance of the piston-like member 16 and its contactingroller 21, and designed to cooperate with member 16 for effecting amovement of the said member to vary the position of jaw member 11relatively to the pipe to which the tong is applied, I provide anirregularly shaped cam 23 having a drive fit on a pin 24 extendingtransversely of the head 3 of handle member 2 and having its bearings inend members 25, the latter being preferably welded to the head, aftermachining the parts.

The shape of the cam member 23 is particularly shown by Fig. 4, and by areference to this figure, it will be noted that the roller contactingface 27 is formed with a gradually increasing pitch terminating at apoint 28. When the roller 21 of the spring pressed jaw during its travelon the cam reaches this point, the compression of the spring 18 .isgreatest and wlll exert a maximum force 1n in the pipe. From the point28, the arilpbeels off through ninety degrees, as shown at 29. VThisconfiguration permits the cam to be turned, by the travel of the roller21 therealong, the cam turning on its rounded surface or face 30. Itwill be understood that the movements just described will release thecompression on the sprin thereby automatically releasing the jaws o thetong from the pipe. The scale of the spring is Such that only sufficientrotative force may be" ap lied to the pipe sections to screw thethreaded ends home or to complete the threading operation and,therefore, when this operation is completed the tong will be releasedfrom the pipe.

Pin 24 of the cam is provided with an operating handle 31 for returningthe cam to its first position after the. tong has been leased from thepipe.

To prevent the tongs ronr swinging around and injuring the operatorafter release takes place, I provide a projecting member 32 integralwith one cheek 4 of head 3, said projection having a curved surface 33for making contact with the pipe and preventing the tongs from flyingfree after being released.

Tongs of the character of my invention are designed for use inconnection with rotary drilling machines and in operation, after thetong has been placed about the pipe and in the position shown by Fig. 1,which may be readily accomplished by grasping the handles 10 and 22, thehandle 2 is moved into contact with a post or other member, not shown,carried on a clockwise rotating part of the rotary. In the positionshown by Fig. 1, with the roller 21 in contact with the cam, spring 18exerts the desired and suilicient pressure to maintain jaw 11 inoperative gripping'engagement with the pipe to rotate the same until apredetermined resistance is encountered or up to the time the threadingoperation is completed. When a resistance greater than is required tocomplete the threading operation is encountered` a continued movement ofthe handle 2 by the rotary will cause the roller 21 to pass the highpoint 28 of the cam 23, thus permitting the recoil of the spring to turnthe cam through ninety degrees, thereby releasing the pressure andprovidin g an automatic release of the tong from the pipe withoutarresting the rotative movement of the tong.

What I claim is :y

1. A self-releasing pipe tong including a handle, a jaw-member pivotallymounted on the handle, a second spring actuated jawmember also pivotallymounted on the handle and having a spring receiving chamber, a springand a movable mgember in said chamber, and a cam carried by the handleand cooperating with the movable member and spring.

2. An automatic releasing tong having a plurality of cooperating jawmembers, means for effecting a maximum gripping force While the tong isin operative position and a release of the tong when a predeterminedresistance is encountered comprising a cam and spring-pressed meansinterposed between the cam and one of the jaw members.

3. An automatic releasing tong having a plurality of cooperating jawmembers, a handle on which the jaw members are pivotally mounted, meansfor effecting a maximum grippingforce while the tong is in operativeposition and a release of the tong when a predetermined resistancc isencountered comprising a cam carried by the handle, and spring-pressedmeans carried by one jaw member and. disposed in operative engagementwith the cam.

4. An automatic releasing tong having a plurality of cooperating jawmembers, a handle on which the jaw members are pivotally mounted, meansfor effecting a maximum gripping force while the tong is in operativeposition and a release of the tong when a Cil predetermined resistanceis encountered coma cam upon movement of the handle relative prising acam carried by the handle, and to said jaw and permitting release ofsaid spring-pressed means carried by one j aw jaw when said elementpasses over the high member and disposed in operative engagepoint ofthecam.

ment with the cani, said cam being rotatably mounted in the handle.

5. An automatic releasing tong having two co-operating jaw members,resilient means for transmitting `to one jaw member a gripping :torcewhile the tong is in operative position, and cam means co-operating withthe resilient means to exert said force and to automatically release thetong when a predetermined resistance is encountered and while the tongis rotated in a single direction.

6. An automatic releasing tong including a handle member, two jawmembers pivotally secured to the handle member, resilient means fortransmitting to one of the jaw members a gripping torce while the tongis in operative position, and a cam co-acting with the resilient meansand operable automatically to release the jaw.

7. An automatic releasing tong including two pivotally mounted awmembers, resilient means for transmitting to one jaw member a grippingforce while the tong is in operative position, and a cam deviceco-acting with the resilient means and operable automatically to releasethe tong when a predetermined resistance is encountered.

8. An automatic releasing tong including' jaw members movable relativeto each other, an actuating member, resilient means for transmittingfrom said actuating member rto one jaw member a gripping force while thetong is in operative position, and a cam device co-acting with theresilient means and operable automatically to release the tong when apredetermined resistance is encountered.

9. Amake-up tong comprising an actuating member, jaws for gripping andreleasing the work, and a cam device for transmitting gripping pressureto a jaw from the actuating member, said cam device permitting releaseof said jaw when, by movement of the actuating member relative to thejaw, the high point of the cam is exceeded.

l0. A make-up tong comprising an actuating member, jaws for gripping andreleasing the work, said actuating member being swingable relative toone of said jaws, and a cam device for transmit-ting gripping pressureto said jaw from the actuating member, said cam device comprising anelement movable along a cam by the swinging movement of the actuatingmember and permitting release of said jaw when said element passes overthe high point of the cam.

1l. A make-up tong comprising a handle, jaws movable relative to thehandle for gripping and releasing the work, and a cam device fortransmitting gripping pressure to a jaw from the handle, said cam deviceincluding a spring-pressed element movable along In testimony whereof IaiiX my signature.

EDGAR E. GREVE.

